Italy's former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi has been given a four-year sentence for tax fraud in connection with the purchase of broadcasting rights by the television company, Mediaset, which he owns.

In addition, the court has also handed down a damages order, temporarily set at €10m (£8m) following the trial which has lasted six years but acquitted Mediaset chairman and Berlusconi's close associate, Fedele Confalonieri who prosecutors also pursued for a three-year and four-month sentence.

The disgraced ex head of state has the right to appeal the ruling two more times before the ruling is finalised.

Berlusconi and other senior Mediaset figures were accused of inflating the price for the television rights through several offshore companies that Berlusconi owned. Part of the money was alleged to have been skimmed off and used to create illegal slush funds.

The former PM's company, Finivest, is understood to have bought rights from US groups for €470m between 1994 and 1999.

Prosecutors had asked for a sentence of three years and eight months for Berlusconi, who confirmed just this week that he would not run in next year's election for leadership of his centre-right People of Freedom party, Reuters reported.

News of the judgment comes alongside a separate and ongoing trial, relating to accusations that Berlusconi paid for sex with an under age prostitute in Milan. He has so far denied the charges.